It is looking like the telecom gear maker's turnaround has started to work and its stock has hit two-year highs. Alcatel was a founding member of the CAC 40 when the benchmark was created a quarter century ago. However last year it was kicked off as it faced some tough competition and its share price fell.

Alcatel-Lucent will replace chipmaker STMicroelectronics, whose shares have lost 24 percent over the past six months. The turnaround came with the arrival this year of a new chief executive, 10,000 job cuts, $1.36 billion of cost savings and 1 billion euros of asset sales.